Botanical Aesculus hippocastanum

BOTANICAL NAME/FAMILY

• Aesculus hippocastanum

OTHER NAMES

• Horse Chestnut, Aescule, buckeye, chestnut, Castaño de Indias, graine de marronier d’inde, escine, eschilo, hestekastanje, hippocastani semen, marron europeen, marronnier, roßkastaniensamen, Spanish chestnut

PLANT PARTS USED

·        Mostly Seed, sometimes bark, flower and leaf

CHEMICAL COMPONENTS

Horse chestnut seed contains 3–6% escin (aescin), a complex mixture of triterpene saponins.  and the sapogenols hippocaesculin and barringtogenol-C.

MAIN ACTIONS                                

·         The major benefits of A. hippocastanum are related to its ability to prevent the degradation of vascular walls, maintaining vascular integrity and in turn preventing vascular hyperpermeability and the resulting oedema.

Other actions include

·        Anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, chemopreventive, anti-angiogenic, and anti-proliferative.

DOSAGE RANGE

chronic venous insufficiency: HCSE standardised to 50–100 mg escin twice daily. The dose may be reduced to a maintenance dose of 50 mg escin once daily after 8 weeks.

•           Australian manufacturers recommend 2–5 mL/day of 1:2 liquid extract.

•           1–2 g dried seed daily.

ADVERSE REACTIONS

• appears to be well tolerated with only mild, infrequent reports of adverse reactions including gastric irritation, skin irritation, dizziness, nausea, headache and pruritus.
• symptoms of overdose include diarrhoea, vomiting, reddening of the face, severe thirst, muscle twitching, weakness, loss of coordination, visual disturbances, enlarged pupils, depression, paralysis, stupor and loss of consciousness

SIGNIFICANT INTERACTIONS

·         Antiplatelet/anticoagulant medications - Horse chestnut contains a toxic glycoside esculin (aesculin), a hydroxycoumarin that may increase bleeding time because of its antithrombin activity and may be lethal when the raw seeds, bark, flower or leaves are used orally. Poisoning has been reported from children drinking tea made with twigs and leaves.

·         Hypoglycemic medications – due to possible hypoglycemic activity, blood sugar levels should be monitored with use of hypoglycemic meds and horse chestnut taken together.

CONTRAINDICATIONS AND PRECAUTIONS

·         As saponins may cause irritation to the gastric mucosa and skin, A. hippocastanum should be taken with food, should not be applied topically to broken or ulcerated skin and should be avoided by people with infectious or inflammatory conditions of the gastrointestinal tract, including coeliac disease and malabsorption disorders.

PREGNANCY USE

• Safe for pregnancy and lactation.